This may be a silly question but, I am going to ask it anyways. I have been reloading for 223 ackley for about 6 months now. I have a basic Lee 3 die set. I recently picked up a standard 223. I know I will need a FL sizing die for it but, could I use the ackley seating die on standard 223 or do I need a standard 223 seating die as well?
I load for both and never interchanged the seating die, but Im guessing it would be OK with most bullets as the COAL is the same ( unless you modified the mag and are loading 75 Amaxes....)
I load all my bolt gun .223 with Redding Type S neck and comp seater .223AI dies. If I'm loading for an AR I use FL .223 dies.
to be more specific with my question I guess I should have asked whether or not using one or the other on either particular caliber would be more or less likely to cause runout. I know that physically either die will work but, would using a specific die for the ackley and vice verse create more concentric bullets?
Run out on .223 ammo loaded with my .223AI dies is really, really low.
Yes, it will work fine. To go even further, I use a Hornady Universal .22 seater die on both.
A standard seating die doesn't do too much to align the case and the bullet. The seater chamber is about the same size as the rifle chamber so the case may or may not be in contact after it is FL sized. FWIW I load 222 Rem Mag on a RCBS Gold competition seater and it works great. Pretty much as long as the case body will fit, the neck is were most of the alignment happens.